Cudenderas

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se_orcampana

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I don’t even think I spelled this correctly, but cudenderas are some kind of witch-doctor faith healers used in pre Catholic Mexico. They are still are promenant in Mexico and here in South Texas as well amongst our Hispanic bretheran.

One example would be taking an egg to a sick baby, doing the sign of the cross with the egg on the baby, then breaking it open into a dish. Somehow this helps the baby get better. They also do some strange chants while they perform this ceremony. Apparently it can get a lot blacker than that.

This kind of twisted black majic is epidemic in the Catholic Church in Mexico. Even some Priests are reported as doing it. A friend of mine who was formally studying to be a Brother in the RCC(He actually chose marraige instead) said that this black majic effects at least 50% of Mexican Catholics. He spent time in Catholic missions in Veracruz, a gulf coast state in MX.

My question is this: How does the RCC deal with this problem? Is there anything being done?

As a Protestant supporter of the Catholic Church with strong leanings towards joining, some of this stuff is a concern.

Crisro es REY
 
I’d say to be careful of the rumors you hear. I know of a church in central america that has pagan rituals performed against the will of the Catholic Church because the tyrannical government likes to make a tourist draw. :mad: The Vatican has denounced it in the strongest terms, but to no avail. Many tourists wrongly assume that this is Catholic.

If you hear of heretical priests, then it is incumbent upon you to deal with it via the proper channels, first speaking with the individual, and then working your way up the chain of command until the situtation is resolved.
 
Hi…what you are referring to are shamans/witch doctors called “Curanderos”.

This is not anything new in Latin America (or for any other part of the world), since you will have a blending of indigenous religions as well as African religions with Catholicism…

For example Santeria, Voodoo and so on have African origins, while in Mexico it is more indigenous Indian. (Can ya tell I am a Latina yet? lol)

This is all cultural and the church can only do so much to discourage it.

As Catholics we all have a responsibility to educate Catholics in error. It all begins at HOME and even I have had to set some members of my family (I am Puerto Rican) straight who thought that doing a “cleansing=limpieza” of negative energy with specially prepared baths is a good idea.

That said, even if you have 90% of people practicing a fusion of Catholicism with other beliefs this in no way should pull anyone away from the TRUTH that is the Catholic church.

My FAITH is not dependant on what “Joe or Jill” in my church are doing that is in contradiction to the teachings of the Catholic church. The best thing to do is stay close to forums such as these, seek friendships with Catholics who are faithful to church teachings, read the Catechism and the writings of the early Fathers and so on…

When you see someone in error don’t be afraid to correct them in a spirit of peace and love.

This is the best advice I can give you. 😃 Keep on learning about the Catholic faith and I hope that you will soon come home to the Catholic Church. 😃 😃 😃 God bless you.

God bless all 😃
 
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity.
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As was stated above, all the Church can do is teach it’s wrong (our parish recently had a series of talks on the dangers of Santeria, for example). Anything more than this, and she gets accused of being paranoid, oppressive and inquisitorial.

The thing you should ask yourself is: what does the fact that some Catholics have weird practices prove? Should someone cast doubts on all Protestants because some are snake-handlers and Jonestown-style cultists? That would be unfair, and so would a general catergorization of Catholics be based on the above. You should always judge a religion on it’s best adherents, not it’s worst.
 
Excellent Point Fidelis!!!

Protestantism has spawned it’s fair share of heresies–Jehovas Witnesses, Mormons, Moonies, Branch Dividians, etc.

I just wanted to get your thoughts on this, and I appreciate your posts
 
As a proud Latino myself, I was shocked when I heard that miembros de la raza were practicing this here in South Texas (Corpus Christi). Being from Colorado, this was entirely unheard of for me. My priest (Fr. Vasquez - stjohnthebaptistcc.com/ ) had some not-so-kind words to say about Curanderos (and the Masons, for that matter). I have also heard of some other quasi-pagan practices that are NOT in keeping with our faith going on here. Bottom line - Haz el bien sin mirar a quien / y no acates / mires a quien (Do what is right, come what may.). The Church is a sure guide, and her teachings are True. I would recommend finding a good and faithful priest to help. Or, if you live in the area, let me know and I’d be happy to discuss some things one-on-one, if you would like.

RyanL
 
There is also the Traditional Catholic Church of Mexico USA which many confuse with the Catholic Church. There are other groups out there that have spun off and do their own thing. If they are not in communion with the Church and teach their own thing then they really are no part of the Church.

Here is an example.
signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050430/news_1n30mexdeath.html

God Bless
Scylla
 
First of all, I am Latin American, and that is true, even in a country like Argentina which doesnt have a lot of indian population that happens, I remember once I discovered my sister in midnight chritmass watching an egg in a glass of water because a Curandera (thats the word) told her she do to do that to discover something.

And many of the poor people pray to saints that are more like popular devotion, and not recognized saints, and many worship the earth god Pachamama, or San La Muerte (Sain Death), In Bolivia some do something that resembles worshiping the Devil, specially the poor people who work in mines.
This si true, do a search in yahoo for Pachamama or Bolivia and the devil.

Other ridiculous problem is people saying that the mary of one town is better than the mary of other town, when there is one mary.

A lot of people dont have good education of the Faith, and in many cases when protestants or evangelicals here say catholics worship mary or the saints they are right, in this case, sadly.

And many catholics convert to the evangelicals because they come with the bible, throw a couple of verses, they tell the people , you cant worship mary, looks at that it says in the bible, the people recognize they worshipped the saints and mary
and they finally convert.

And the priests really do nothing, it is easier to preach for good morals, like against adultery, than to preach against religious customs.
 
I thought I might post a little more as my wife is Mexican, she left the Church for an evangelical church about 10 years ago. They did what someone here described, pointed out some things in the Bible like “call no man father” and worshipping saints, in addition to inviting her to church. She left the Church and just has recently come back with me at the beginning of this year.

As is extremely common in Mexico and most of Latin America, there is a huge need for good education about the faith. Education generally is not something that is stressed in the culture and even more so education in the faith. People go through baptism, first communion, and mass etc… and just go through the motions, then go to the celebrations. They are ripe for the picking for any missionaries, Evangelical, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, etc…

People get their own customs and there are many movements there based off the Catholic Church as well. We really need to re-evangelize the world and improve education in the faith.

God Bless
Scylla
 
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